Union suit



W. P. SWEENEY.

UNION SUIT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 1921.

z W W 7 1 m M N N d ,w m m P To all whom it my camera:

Pate mted Nov. 14, 1922. I

WILLIAM I. SWEENEY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

UNION SUIT.

Application filed May 28,

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM P. SWEENEY,

- a citizen of the United States, residing at ing flap of a garment.

Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Union Suits; and I doHereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhichit appertains to make and use the same. i Thisv invention relates toagarment, and particularly to a garment comprising a union suit, and isespecially designed to be used as an overall suit or as a childs playgarment.

It is an object of this invention to con- 'struct a one-piece garmenthaving an open flap. adjacent the waist portion, which flap 18 arrangedto be quickly and easily closed by a special form of fastening device.The invention comprises, therefore, the combination of this fasteningdevice with the open This, as well as other objects and advan tages ofthe invention will appear from the.

following description made in connection with the accompanying drawingsin which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughoutthe'difi'erent views and in which Fig. 1 is a rear view of the portionof the garment adjacent the waist showing the flap in partly opencondition;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the flap closed;

Fig. 3 openin part 0 r I bottom portion 1 slightly separated Fig. 4 is aview showing a modification;

Fig.

is a vertical section through the in the garment showing the upper '51sa view in elevation on an enlar ed scale showing the fastening devices.

eferring'to the drawings, a portion of a one-piece garment is showncomprising the part 1 extending above the waist and the portion 2extending therebelow. The front and rear portions of the garment aredivided along'one side for some distance below the waist portion and thegarment is also divided transversely substantially at the waist line,preferably, as shown at the rear. These two divisions form a flapportion 3 which when opened is of substantially triangular shapeextending from the waist line at one side of the garment to the bottomthe flap 3 and the lower part of the forming a 1921. Serial no. 473,387.

of the above mentioned division at the other SldG of the garment. Theflap 3 is provided along its upper edge with a folded strip 9 securedthereto and the lower edge of the portion 1 is shown as folded over toproduce a wide hem. The outer side of said hem portion and the innerside of the strip 9 have secured thereto strips 11 and 12, re-

spectivel to the free edges of which are attached astening devices 4.Each of the members 4 comprise a series of closely arrangedlockingmembers 4 which, whlen brought together, as shown at the left ofthe fastening member 5 in Fig. -1, interengage with each' other andbecome locked so that- 'the same cannot'be separated by stress exe'rtedin a line normal to their length. The

members can be readily separated, however,

b a spreading stress applied therein at the 'rlght of the closing member5, as seen in member is shown some- Fig. 1. The closing what in detailin Fig. 5 and is a development of that described in the patent to JudsonNo. 557,208 of March 31, 1896. It is suflicient for the presentinvention to know, as stated above, that .the fastening device can bereadily separated by spreading stress applied to the members 4 and oneside of the member 5 and can be very quickl closed by moving the member5 to the rig t, as seen in Fig. 1, by taking hold of the extensionmember 5% attached thereto. With this structure, it will be seen thatthe flap 3 can be almost instantly opened and just as easily and uicklyclosed.

In ig. 4, is shown a modified form of the garment in which the same isdivided at the side from the waist portion to a point 6- some distancebelow the waist and the garment is then divided along the diagonal linerunning from the point 7 to the point 8 at the opposite side of thewaist portion, thus tener in this modification will be applied along theline 7-8.

It will be noted that the fastening mem bers 4 and 5 will be covered bythe upper edge of flap 3 when the same is in closed position.

In order to hold the corner of flap 3 in the closed position to which itis moved by the fastener closing member 5, said corner is provided witha button 10 or other fastening means and a co -operating fastening meansshown as a buttonhole 10 is provided at the edge of the front side ofthe garment. The

triangular flap 678. The fas buttonhole is arranged to be easilybuttoned over the button 10, and the front portion of the garment thusoverlies the vertical edge of the flap 3. In Fig. 2 the side of thegarment is shown as bent over to show the button in buttoned position. Asimilar fastening will be used at the corner of the flap shown in Fig,4.

The garment has been found to be exceedingl useful in practice and to beespecially a apted for a play garment for young children. It will beobvious that the garment, however, will be adapted for many other usesas the fastening member can be made in various sizes and weights.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, details and arrangementof the device without departing fromthe scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists inthe matter shown and described and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An overall garment having an opening at the side extending downwardlya short distance from the waist portion, an opening extending across thegarment and connecting with the said first mentioned opening to form aflap, a strip secured to the outside of the upper portion of-the garmentadjacent the lower edge thereof, a strip secured to the inside of theflap adjacent the upper edge thereof, each of said strips carrying atits free edge a series of interengaging fastening members, said membersbeing so constructed and arranged that when closed, they are lockedagainst separation by a stress normal to the length of said strips butseparable by a spreading movement applied to the ends of said strips,and means for causing interengagement of said members, said fasteningmeans being so disposed as to be concealed by the upper edge of the flapwhen in closed position.

2. An overall garment having an opening at the side extending downwardlya short distance from the waist portion and another opening extendingfrom one end of the first mentioned opening laterally across the rear ofthe garment to form a flap, a strip secured to the outside of the upperportion of the garment adjacent the lower edge thereof, a strip securedto the inside of the flap adjacent the upper edge thereof, each of saidstrips carrying at its free edge a series of interengaging members, aslidable member moving in engagement with said series of members tobring the same into engaged position, said members being so constructedand arranged that when closed they are locked against separation by astress normal to the length of said strips but are separable byspreading movement applied to the ends thereof, said interengagingmembers being so disposed as to be concealed between the bottom portionof the upper part of the garment and the upper portion of said flap,

and additional means at the corner of the flap and on the upper part ofthe arment for holding the flap in closed position.

In testimony whereof I afiix m si ature. WILLIAM P. S- EE EY.

